Tag: military

Five U.S. Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Thursday, in what U.S. officials said may have been a refueling exercise gone wrong. A series of emergency landings and parts falling from U.S. military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns. The Marine Corps said in a statement the incident occurred around 2 a.m. local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast. The two aircraft

Five U.S. Marines were missing after two Marine Corps aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan on Thursday, in what U.S. officials said may have been a refueling exercise gone wrong.

Japan’s defense ministry said its maritime forces had so far found two of the seven Marines who were aboard the aircraft — an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and KC-130 Hercules — at the time of the incident.

One was in a stable condition at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, while the second had been found about 10 hours after the collision and brought aboard a Japanese military vessel, the ministry said. No other details about the second Marine were known, a ministry spokesman said.

Search and rescue efforts for the remaining five continued.

The incident adds to a growing list of U.S. military aviation accidents around the world in recent years, prompting hearings in Congress to address the rise.

The Military Times reported earlier this year that aviation accidents jumped nearly 40 percent from fiscal years 2013 to 2017. At least 133 service members were killed in those incidents, it said.

U.S. military accidents are a sensitive topic in Japan, particularly for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, which is home to the bulk of the U.S. presence in the country. A series of emergency landings and parts falling from U.S. military aircraft have highlighted safety concerns.

“The incident is regrettable, but our focus at the moment is on search and rescue,” Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told a news conference. “Japan will respond appropriately once the details of the incident are uncovered.”

The Marine Corps said in a statement the incident occurred around 2 a.m. local time in Japan (1700 GMT Wednesday) about 200 miles off the Japanese coast.

The two aircraft had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regular training when there was a “mishap,” the Marine Corps said.

The Marine Corps did not elaborate on the nature of the incident. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it occurred during a refueling exercise.

Officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity were unsure precisely how the mishap occurred but none suspected foul play. An investigation has begun.

Ukraine is on the cusp of bringing in a sustained period of martial law after the Russian military opened fire on three of its ships over the weekend, wounding several sailors. However, analysts have warned that the prospect of martial law is likely to add further “instability to the situation.” The naval standoff in waters off the Crimean Peninsula marks a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries. As a result, the United Nations Security Council is expected to hold an emerge

Ukraine is on the cusp of bringing in a sustained period of martial law after the Russian military opened fire on three of its ships over the weekend, wounding several sailors.

However, analysts have warned that the prospect of martial law is likely to add further “instability to the situation.”

The naval standoff in waters off the Crimean Peninsula marks a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries.

As a result, the United Nations Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Monday.

The former members of the Soviet Union have been locked in an undeclared war for almost five years, with Ukraine’s military fighting two separatist movements against forces widely thought to have been backed by Russia. The Kremlin has formally denied any direct military intervention.

President Donald Trump used a Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. “You probably see over the news what’s happening on our southern border,” Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: “I don’t have to even ask you. Trump’s border threat came days after a federal judge put the administration’s attempts to overhaul a

President Donald Trump used a Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump’s call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club, struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays.

“It’s a disgrace,” Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas.

Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost “control” on its side.

The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops — “You really are our heroes,” he said — as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. And it was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics.

“You probably see over the news what’s happening on our southern border,” Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: “I don’t have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who we’re letting in.”

Trump also continued to rail against the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which he said has become “a big thorn in our side.”

“It’s a terrible thing,” he said, when judges “tell you how to protect your border. It’s a disgrace.”

Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was “a very big subject” for him personally.

“We’ve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals,” Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied that, “We don’t see any issues in terms of trade right now.”

And throughout, Trump was sure to congratulate himself, telling the officers that the county is doing exceptionally well on his watch.

“I hope that you’ll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well,” he said. “The nation’s doing well economically, better than anybody in the world.” He later told reporters “nobody’s done more for the military than me.”

Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his “great family,” as well as himself.

“I made a tremendous difference in this country,” he said. “This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office and you wouldn’t believe it and when you see it, we’ve gotten so much stronger people don’t even believe it.”

But Trump continued to warn about the situation on the southern border as he took questions from reporters, pointing to the caravans of Central American migrants that have been making their way toward the U.S. and warning that, “If we find that it gets to a level where we lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, we’re going to close entry into the country for a period of time until we get it under control.”

He said he had the authority to do so by executive order and claimed he’d already used it earlier this week. “Two days ago, we closed the border. We actually just closed it, said nobody’s coming in because it was just out of control.”

By no means did he seal the border with Mexico. Officials did shut down one port of entry, San Ysidro, in California, for several hours early Monday morning to bolster security because of concerns about a potential influx of migrant caravan members. They closed northbound lanes into the U.S. and reopened most of them before the morning rush.

Trump’s border threat came days after a federal judge put the administration’s attempts to overhaul asylum rules on hold. Courts have also blocked several versions of the president’s travel ban as well as his attempt to end a program that allows young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children to live and work in the country.

Trump probably could close the entire southern border by order, at least temporarily, invoking national security powers. Doing so could cause extraordinary damage to bilateral relations as well as to cross-border commerce between the U.S. and Mexico, its third largest trading partner. It would not necessarily stop migrants from coming; Trump would have to contend with the same asylum laws already vexing his efforts to harden the border.

Among other subjects the president touched on in his question-and-answer session with the press:

But for one military veteran, it also meant saving his life. While serving as a recruiting officer in New York City, Marine Corps veteran Michael Abrams had the chance to meet and know many military service members. FourBlock offers veterans a free semester-long, university accredited course in nearly 20 cities across the country, with plans to expand to three more. The curriculum, developed in partnership with Columbia University, helps veterans translate their military skills into career oppor

Finding a job often means economic security. But for one military veteran, it also meant saving his life.

While serving as a recruiting officer in New York City, Marine Corps veteran Michael Abrams had the chance to meet and know many military service members. But he told CNBC that one in particular stuck with him. His name was Allen Strifler, an Iwo Jima survivor and former Marine Corps corporal.

Strifler shared with Abrams that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that the only thing that got him out of bed was when he got a job. Strifler said that working meant “he finally had meaning and purpose in his life,” Abrams recalled to CNBC’s “On the Money” in a recent interview.

That anecdote spurred Abrams to launch his nonprofit, called FourBlock, while pursuing his MBA at New York University.

FourBlock offers veterans a free semester-long, university accredited course in nearly 20 cities across the country, with plans to expand to three more. The curriculum, developed in partnership with Columbia University, helps veterans translate their military skills into career opportunities.

Each week, veterans have online lessons, in-person lectures and visits with different businesses to hear from senior executives. Some of the companies that participate include Amazon, Deloitte, Facebook, and JPMorgan.

Abrams said the career transition program is aimed at vets “to help get them employed with a purpose sooner, so they don’t fall down a downward spiral.”

Each year, approximately 250,000 service members transition from active duty and enter a job market that’s quite different from what they are used to in the military.

Overall veteran unemployment reached 2.9 percent in October 2018, and 3.1 percent for post September 11 veterans, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

While those numbers seems low, FourBlock says that nearly 50 percent of veterans leave their first post-military job within the first year, a symptom of the challenges vets face when returning to the civilan workforce. Abrams said veterans may experience the feeling of “underemployment,” which happens when a job occupant feel overqualified or underutilized for a specific job.

“I always preach to vets that they will have to take a few steps back professionally after leaving the service, and beginning a new career, so that they can learn their new trade and corporate culture,” Abrams told CNBC.

He added: “You’re starting all over again, you’ve got to prove yourself, you’ve got to earn your stripes, and then you gotta move up.”

The FourBlock founder explained that veterans need to figure out that they want to do, and must adapt to the corporate culture of their respective jobs.

New military data and recent incidents involving U.S. military activity in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait show the defense secretary is walking a fine line. Even as Mattis tries to forge ties to contain crises, the Pentagon is ramping up activity that irritates the Chinese government. China claims most of the South China Sea and has been militarizing islands there. Susan Thornton, who until July was the State Department’s top Asia adviser, said the increased military activity is ratch

New military data and recent incidents involving U.S. military activity in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait show the defense secretary is walking a fine line. Even as Mattis tries to forge ties to contain crises, the Pentagon is ramping up activity that irritates the Chinese government.

In the 12 months ending on Sept. 30, for example, there were six so-called “Freedom of Navigation” operations in the South China Sea, compared with four in the same period of the previous year, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Such operations involve sending warships into international waters if they are claimed by other countries. China claims most of the South China Sea and has been militarizing islands there.

The six operations are equivalent to what the Navy did during the last two years of President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Pentagon is also running warships through the Taiwan Strait with greater frequency and this year weighed sending an aircraft carrier through the narrow waterway, U.S. officials said. China claims Taiwan as its own and sees U.S overtures to self-ruled Taiwan as meddling in its internal affairs.

Susan Thornton, who until July was the State Department’s top Asia adviser, said the increased military activity is ratcheting up the risks.

“We are doing things that are frankly more aggressive, and the Chinese are pushing back harder than they ever have before,” Thornton said. “The risk of a mishap is growing.”

Schriver acknowledged that it was hard to predict how resilient U.S.-Chinese military ties would be in an actual crisis. “I guess we won’t know until there’s a crisis, and it’s tested,” he said.

Many Chinese military scientists working on strategic research at Western universities have deliberately concealed their ties to the army, according to new research. Most were Australia-bound and studied topics such as hypersonic missiles and navigation technology, according to the study. The majority came from top Chinese military academies such as the National University of Defense Technology, which is led by the state-run Central Military Commission. ASPI’s findings come amid widespread fears

Many Chinese military scientists working on strategic research at Western universities have deliberately concealed their ties to the army, according to new research. That’s sparked concerns of host institutions unknowingly contributing to Beijing’s defense prowess.

In a report this week, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said it discovered two dozen new cases of scientists from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — the umbrella term for China’s ground, naval and air forces — traveling abroad “using cover to obscure their military affiliations.”

“These scientists use various kinds of cover, ranging from the use of misleading historical names for their institutions to the use of names of non-existent institutions,” the Canberra-based think tank found.

Most were Australia-bound and studied topics such as hypersonic missiles and navigation technology, according to the study. The majority came from top Chinese military academies such as the National University of Defense Technology, which is led by the state-run Central Military Commission.

Other popular destinations included the European Union and the United States — countries that view Beijing as an intelligence adversary. These nations, however, may be oblivious to their inadvertent role in China’s military advancement, according to the report’s author Alex Joske: “Helping a rival military develop its expertise and technology isn’t in the national interest, yet it’s not clear that Western universities and governments are fully aware of this phenomenon.”

ASPI’s findings come amid widespread fears of Beijing using education, spying, political donations and people-to-people diplomacy to gain a greater clout abroad. The issue threatens to further strain relations between China and Western economies at a time when Beijing is dominating the global trade conversation.

President Donald Trump says the number of military troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could reach 15,000 — roughly double the number the Pentagon said it currently plans for a mission whose dimensions are shifting daily. The Pentagon says “more than 7,000” troops were being sent to the southwest border to support the Customs and Border Protection agents. Just 24 hours later, Trump thrust new uncertainty into the picture, catching the Pentagon by surprise. We’ll go up to anywhere between

President Donald Trump says the number of military troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could reach 15,000 — roughly double the number the Pentagon said it currently plans for a mission whose dimensions are shifting daily.

The Pentagon says “more than 7,000” troops were being sent to the southwest border to support the Customs and Border Protection agents. Officials said that number could reach a maximum of about 8,000 under present plans.

The troop numbers have been changing at a dizzying pace, with Trump drawing a hard line on immigration in the lead-up to the midterm elections.

Just last week officials were indicating that about 800 to 1,000 might be sent. On Monday, officials announced that about 5,200 were being deployed. The next day, the Air Force general running the operation said more than the initially announced total were going, and he pointedly rejected a news report that it could reach 14,000, saying that was “not consistent with what’s actually being planned.”

Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, the commander of U.S. Northern Command, told reporters the number would exceed the initial contingent of 5,200, but he offered no estimate of the eventual total.

Just 24 hours later, Trump thrust new uncertainty into the picture, catching the Pentagon by surprise.

With his eyes squarely on Tuesday’s contests, Trump has rushed a series of immigration declarations, promises and actions as he tries to mobilize supporters to retain Republican control of Congress. His own Republican campaign in 2016 concentrated on border fears, and that’s his focus in the final week of the midterm fight.

“As far as the caravan is concerned, our military is out,” Trump said. “We have about 5,800. We’ll go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 military personnel on top of Border Patrol, ICE and everybody else at the border.”

Later Wednesday, Trump told ABC News, “We have to have a wall of people.”

His comments were the latest twist in a story that has pushed the Pentagon unhappily into the political space, prompting questions about whether Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was allowing the military to be leveraged as a political stunt.

“We don’t do stunts,” Mattis said Wednesday.

Trump rejected the idea he was “fearmongering” or using the issue for political purposes, but his escalating rhetoric in the waning days of the campaign season calls that denial into question. Trump has railed against illegal immigration, including several caravans of migrants from Central America slowly moving on foot toward the U.S. border. The caravan of an estimated 4,000 people is still nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the border. Several smaller groups, estimated at a combined 1,200 people, are farther away.

Trump insisted the media is underestimating the caravans. “You have caravans coming up that look a lot larger than it’s reported actually. I’m pretty good at estimating crowd size. And I’ll tell you they look a lot bigger than people would think,” he told ABC.

He has also promised to end so-called catch-and-release policies by erecting tent cities to hold those crossing illegally. And this week he is asserting he could act by executive order to unilaterally end birthright citizenship for the children of non-U.S. citizens.

Trump’s comments left some in the Pentagon scratching their heads. Officials said they had no plans to deploy as many as 15,000 troops. The number conceivably could reach 10,000, counting the 2,100 National Guard soldiers who have been operating along the border for months as part of a separate but related mission. The number of active-duty troops tapped for deployment stood at 7,000 as of Wednesday but could reach 8,000.

A deployment of 15,000 would bring the military commitment on the border to roughly the same level as in war-torn Afghanistan. And it would more than double the number of people thought to be in the caravans.

Trump did not back down Wednesday from his controversial proposal to upend the very concept of American citizenship. In a morning tweet, he said the right to citizenship for babies born to noncitizens on American soil “will be ended one way or the other.”

He also claimed that what he terms “so-called Birthright Citizenship” is “not covered by the 14th Amendment.”

However, the text of the amendment’s opening Citizenship Clause is this: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The citizenship proposal would inevitably spark a long-shot legal battle over whether the president can alter the long-accepted understanding that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to any child born on U.S. soil, regardless of his parents’ immigration status.

House Speaker Paul Ryan asserted Tuesday that “obviously” Trump could not upend that policy by executive order, drawing a tweeted rebuke from Trump. He said Wednesday that Ryan “should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about!”

Speaking to reporters before leaving the White House for a campaign rally in Florida, Trump compared his plan to act by executive order to President Barack Obama’s much-maligned decision to use executive action to provide protections from prosecution and a path to work status for some people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

“If he can do DACA, we can do this by executive order,” Trump said, using the acronym for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump and his Justice Department have argued that Obama action was unlawful.

Trump and many top aides have long seen the immigration issue as the most effective rallying cry for his base of supporters. The president had been expected to announce new actions at the border on Tuesday, but that was scrapped so he could travel instead to Pittsburgh, where 11 people were massacred in a synagogue during Sabbath services.

WATCH: Here are the businesses profiting from immigrations enforcement

The Defense Department says it’s sending 5,200 active duty troops to “harden” the southern border against a migrant caravan making its way through Mexico. That’s in addition to the more than 2,000 members of the National Guard already providing assistance at the border now. The announcement comes as President Donald Trump has been trying to focus on the caravan just a week before the midterm elections. The migrant caravan has been moving slowly north from Central America and its numbers have bee

The Defense Department says it’s sending 5,200 active duty troops to “harden” the southern border against a migrant caravan making its way through Mexico.

Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy tells reporters that 800 soldiers were en route on Monday and that the remainder of the troops would be at the southwest border by the end of the week.

That’s in addition to the more than 2,000 members of the National Guard already providing assistance at the border now. Officials say the troops will provide “mission enhancing capabilities” and will be armed.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump has been trying to focus on the caravan just a week before the midterm elections.

The migrant caravan has been moving slowly north from Central America and its numbers have been dwindling.

Trump has escalated his threats against a migrant caravan traveling to the U.S. border, labelling the effort an “invasion” and declaring the “Military is waiting for you.”

Trump tweeted Monday about the caravan of several thousand Central American migrants moving through Mexico, saying no one will be admitted “unless you go through the legal process.”

Trump also said the group includes “Gang Members and some very bad people.” He has made similar claims before without offering evidence.

Chinese authorities hate the word “independence.” But whether spoken by fringe figures in Hong Kong or marchers demonstrating in Taiwan, they are hearing it all the same. Compounding frustrations in Beijing have worsened ties with the United States, which sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait on Monday for the second time since July. But at a press briefing in August, the foreign ministry’s Lu Kang reiterated Beijing’s stance on Taiwan, saying: “There is only one China in the world. The gove

Chinese authorities hate the word “independence.” But whether spoken by fringe figures in Hong Kong or marchers demonstrating in Taiwan, they are hearing it all the same.

Compounding frustrations in Beijing have worsened ties with the United States, which sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait on Monday for the second time since July.

International criticism has also mounted over a human rights crackdown on ethnic Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang, whom authorities fear want to break away.

“The main problem is that the Communist Party of China is paranoid about calls for separatism and independence and continually overreacts to them,” Michael Kovrig, senior advisor for North East Asia at the International Crisis Group, told CNBC on Thursday in an email.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

But at a press briefing in August, the foreign ministry’s Lu Kang reiterated Beijing’s stance on Taiwan, saying: “There is only one China in the world. The government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole (of) China. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.”

China will never give up an inch of its territory, whether the self-ruled island of Taiwan it claims as its own, or in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, the country’s defense minister said on Thursday. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe made the remarks at the opening of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in the wealthy city-state of Singapore. China is not a party to that treaty, but Trump has also suggest

China will never give up an inch of its territory, whether the self-ruled island of Taiwan it claims as its own, or in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, the country’s defense minister said on Thursday.

Beijing has been infuriated by recent U.S. sanctions on its military, one of a growing number of flashpoints in ties with Washington that include a bitter trade war, Taiwan and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea.

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe made the remarks at the opening of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in the wealthy city-state of Singapore.

China’s military ties with the United States are important and sensitive, Wei said, adding that Taiwan was a “core” interest of China’s and Beijing opposed displays of strength by “outside forces” in the South China Sea.

The world’s two largest economies needed to deepen high-level ties so as to navigate tension and rein in the risk of inadvertent conflict, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told his Chinese counterpart last week.

Mattis saw firsthand last month how mounting Sino-U.S. friction can undermine military contacts, when Beijing upended plans for him to meet Wei in October.

China has been angered by the U.S. sanctions on its military for buying weapons from Russia, and by what Beijing sees as stepped-up U.S. support for democratic Taiwan, which it claims as sacred territory.

China has also expressed concern after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would withdraw from a landmark Cold War-era treaty that eliminated nuclear missiles from Europe because Russia was violating the pact.

China is not a party to that treaty, but Trump has also suggested Beijing’s military strength played a role in his decision, which China has described as “completely wrong”.

On Monday, the United States sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait in the second such operation this year.

China-Taiwan relations have deteriorated since the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, swept to power in 2016.

Beijing, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, has also viewed U.S. overtures toward the island with alarm, such as a new de facto embassy there and passage of a law to encourage visits by U.S. officials.